Even though SMS marketing has lots of benefits associated with it, too many businesses are wary about adding it to their annual marketing plan, because it can also be fraught with danger.
One inappropriate or ill-timed message to your customer base and they will be turned off in seconds, blocking you in the process.
That’s why SMS best practices need to be followed no matter what kind of business you run. Keep reading for more on SMS marketing strategies.
You need to analyze your entire marketing plan and figure out if SMS marketing fits into the whole.
There’s no need to send SMS messages to your customers just because everyone else is doing it. If it’s not going to give you or your customers any added value, then there’s no point in it.
When you send messages, even if it’s just a text message, it needs to invoke feeling in the customer’s mind and heart. Don’t be bland, but use the same vibe as you do in your other marketing campaigns.
If you use humor in your email marketing, then you can do the same in SMS. More on the technical and serious side? Then your SMS messages should be the same.
As much as possible, your messages should be coming from customer service reps or some other human representative from your organization. Customers want to interact with your company, but that doesn’t mean AI chatbots.
Also, the customers should be able to reply to SMS messages and get answers quickly, since that’s the whole point of using SMS: lighting fast delivery and higher engagement rates.
You will want to send messages with your customer’s name in the text. Also, keep the text short and sweet.
No need to ramble on and on for a paragraph. Two or three sentences to get your point across should be more than enough.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulates unsolicited calls, messages, and faxes. This means you can’t just be sending out SMS messages to random folks who haven’t opted in to receive messages from you. This could get your organization into serious trouble and lead to heavy fines from the government.
You should also have a very easy way for customers to opt out of messages. For example, text “BYE” or “STOP” to opt out.
This should be an unwritten rule in every SMS marketing handbook, but sadly many organizations get overenthusiastic in texting their customers or leads. Make sure you only text your customers from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and don’t send more than one message a week.
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